This invention relates to systems for sorting containers, and particularly for sorting containers comprising magnetically-attractable material, having a length greater than their diameters, and having one end closed and the other end open.
There are many applications in which such sorting is highly desirable. For example, in the food packaging industry it is common to require the establishment of a moving mass of open-topped metal containers each resting on its closed end on a conveyor, so that material can later be automatically fed into the open tops of the containers as they travel along the conveyor. In some instances such containers are temporarily stored in a bin in which they are randomly oriented, and it is therefore necessary to take the randomly oriented containers and turn them so that the closed bottom ends are all positioned downwardly against the conveyor. While this can be done manually, at considerable expense, it is preferred to provide a system which will do this automatically.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for receiving a mass of containers in different orientations and for placing at least a selected group of them all in the same orientation.
Another object is to provide such a system which first places the containers in an end-to-end series train, and then automatically sorts those whose open ends face forwardly from those whose open ends face rearwardly in the train, whereby the containers are sorted into at least one set in which the same ends of the containers are directed downwardly upon a conveyor. Preferably two such sets are formed and then merged into a single common set.
A further object is to provide such a system which operates reliably and at relatively high speeds.